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Patience is Key

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I’ve learned a lot about exercising patience since becoming a scrapbooker. In fact, I would go as far as to say that crafting memory books has taught me how to stress less and focus on having fun. Also: If at first you don’t succeed try, try again.

Clearly, some scrapbooking techniques yield more opportunities to exercise patience than others. After all, you don’t really need much patience to flock or add glitter to an item. However, when it comes to paper piercing or stacking foam stickers to create your own 3D embellishment, that’s when I find myself digging deep in the patience department.

Paper piecing is quite challenging to me. Using patterns helps, but you have to cut very slowly and even more precisely. What’s more, it also helps if you have experience using a craft knife, as you will need to use it rather than a pair of scissors in order to make clean cuts.

Once you get your pieces cut-out, you have to exercise even more patience trying to arrange them into a cohesive shape. It’s like putting a puzzle together only you have to be extra careful because you are using glue to adhere the pieces. I’ve learned the hard way that it pays to piece the design together on a sheet of scratch paper before you start gluing anything. Doing so allows you to correct any mistakes before you add it to your actual layout.

When you are happy with the way your design fits together, you can enhance it by shading or highlighting different parts with chalk. Another way to spice up a paper piercing is to add some glitter glue or flocking powder. Or, you could add some little embellishments, such as yarn, buttons, ribbons or sequins for an added touch of sparkle.

About Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin.
Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. She spent the next ten years as a television anchor and reporter at various stations throughout the country (from the CBS affiliate in Honolulu to the NBC affiliate in Green Bay). She has won numerous honors including an Emmy Award and multiple Edward R. Murrow awards honoring outstanding achievements in broadcast journalism. In addition, she has received awards from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for her reports on air travel and the Wisconsin Education Association Council for her stories on education. Michele has since left television to concentrate on being a mom and freelance writer.